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Analysis: The Haditha Factor

Council on Foreign Relations

Updated June 2, 2006
Prepared by: Lionel Beehner

Not much good news trickles out of Iraq these days. The latest setback involves the revelation—first reported by TIME in March—that Marines allegedly went on a killing spree in the Iraqi town of Haditha last November that left twenty-four civilians dead, some of them slain execution-style. The victims included women, children, and even one wheelchair-bound elderly man.

A separate, unrelated incident occurred in April, when seven Marines and a Navy corpsman reportedly dragged an Iraqi man from his home in Hamandiya and shot him (AP). The U.S. troops, who face charges of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy, are said to have left a shovel and AK-47 near his corpse to create the appearance he was planting a roadside bomb.

Much like the shock and anger that followed the revelations of abuse at Abu Ghraib, the U.S. military is now scrambling to do damage control, particularly amid charges that a cover-up followed the rampage. Military officials relieved the officers in charge and ordered a series of investigations, as this new Backgrounder explains. The Marines in both cases may have violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice and could face charges of murder, or worse, war crimes. President Bush told reporters he was "troubled" by allegations of murder by Marines (ABC News) and promised that "those who violated the law, if they did, will be punished." The U.S. military announced it will begin providing troops in Iraq with ethics—or so-called "core values"—training, something William M. Arkin, a blogger on national security for the Washington Post, calls a "a hapless and hollow gesture."

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.